Building a new system , HELP!...

[Guest]

I am looking to build a new system with an AMD Duron proccesor of some varity hopefully of which I will be able to overclock with little effort, so I would like a motherboard to fit this. I am also looking for a high quality graphics card and sound card aswell as a fairly large hard drive and alot of ram...ect... I have seen Toms HowTo guide but was looking for a slightly better system.
my budget is around $1800

note: I will also need a monitor and speakers

*I am fairly new at this hardware stuff so any helpful urls on building PC's or advise would be greatly apriciated

Thanks.

 

[AmdMELTDOWN]

$1800, hmmm....why go for a duron? when you can get a t-bird.

If this was my prefered platform I would get a thunderbird.

Btw w/$1800 you can have a nice stable dual p3 system aka "Dream System".

You have a little bit more cash on hand than most of the thg audience combined!

 

[RavenPrime]

Now is not necessarily the best time to buy or build as new technologies are just comming or just about to come out.

Here are a couple of places to check prices:
<A HREF="http://www.buy.com" target="_new">http://www.buy.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.ibuyer.net" target="_new">http://www.ibuyer.net</A>
<A HREF="http://www.computershopper.com" target="_new">http://www.computershopper.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.pricewatch.com" target="_new">http://www.pricewatch.com</A>

I like the a-top case <A HREF="http://www.a-top.com/main.html" target="_new">http://www.a-top.com/main.html</A> but be warned that they come with loud fans in the power supply. I had to replace my power supply fan. It would be nice if you could get the case without the powersupply. Enlight also makes excellent cases. Get a 300W power supply.

See Tom's reviews to pick a motherboard. I love my Asus A7V but DDR motherboards are out now though I would wait for at least one revision before buying one especially in light of the poor performance from the new Via southbridge chip with ATA/100.

Which processor speed depends upon how much you want to spend and how much you want to overclock. Pick your sweet spot. I would get at least 128MB SDRAM PC133 or PC2100.

IBM 75GXP 7200RPM ATA/100 hard drive. Pick your GB size. Toshiba 12X DVD drive is fast, quiet, and a great bargain. I like LS-120 drives instead of standard floppies. The Plextor CDRW drives are awesome.

I like the soundblaster Live cards. I got Altec Lansing ACS54 4.1 speaker set to go with my SBLive card and the sound is excellent.

The Geforce2 GTS 32MB was plenty of power for my needs but if you are willing to spend more, go for the pro or ultra card. nVidia is supposedly comming out with a new chip soon though.

I would invest a good portion of my money in a great 19in monitor. Its what you spend your time staring at and its the part you will probably keep the longest. I have a Nokia 446Xpro at home and a Mitsubishi 900U at work. Both are good monitors with USB hubs built in. Its a nice feature for me since I have a USB mouse, keyboard, printer, scanner, and joystickX2.

The intellimouse optical is absolutely incredible--highly recommended! I also like the microsoft natural keyboard elite.

This is almost as long as one of Tom's articles. Hope it is helpful. I look forward to seeing what other people think. Have fun!

<i>So what if I don't NEED 170fps. Your point is what?</i> James

 

[Crashman]

For that kind of money I would SERIOUSLY consider getting a good DDR motherboard such as the Iwill KA266 Rev. 1.1 Tom recently reviewed. And a 1.2GHZ T-Bird.

Suicide is painless...........

 

[seanmcne]

Be careful when taking wusy's advice he is a bit Bias. As is everyone for that matter I guess. I like pricewatch they have been very good for me. Also I do agree with looking at a T-bird. Prices are going through the floor everyday so just decide when to jump and buy away!
Good luck!


-=-Sean-=-
I hate picking fights... but it's so fun

 

[Crashman]

Hey, I just recommended an AMD! Is anyone shocked?

Suicide is painless...........

 

[JOJO]

i am

i would also second the recommendation for the a7vA (i think thats what it's called,) the one with the kt133a chipset.

put that fsb up to 133 and you are set.

although a ddr board would be cool, i don't think that i could afford it with 2100 ram, although you might be able to.

I would maybe wait on the ddr's until a few revisions.... but then again, maybe not

 

[Crashman]

Hey, to each their own, I'm holding out for QDR! And I can afford to with the system I have!

Suicide is painless...........

 

[Guest]

if you can wait a little longer hold off until the ddr boards mature and the palimino is released.
if not get a 800 duron or 850 t-bird with a mainboard that has a kt133a chipset that officially supports 133mhz fsb.
i recommend nothing smaller than an antec 300w power supply, a good midtower case, and at least 128mb of quality pc133 cas2 ram.
i am partial to logitech keyboards and mice (i love my marble mouse...its a track ball).
sound has to be a sb live! value or better.
take the time to find a good 17+" monitor (don't skimp you will live to regret it).
the ibm 75gxp seems to be the way to go for hard drives.
for cdrom go kenwood true-x 72
for video try nvida (the flavor depends on what you want out of your machine.)
i also prefer ls 120 drives (they store 120mb on special floppies and the read 1.44mb floppies 5x faster than a standard floppy drive.
there are too many good speaker systems out there so go listen to a few and see if you find some you realy like.
i am using cambridge soundworks but altec lansing makes truely impressive speakers also.

 

[Guest]

dont be shocked i have ONLY run amd since my dx4/100@120 mhz i have supported amd for many years cuase if no one did they wouldn't be selling us these wonderful durons and t-birds!

 

[Guest]

I just spent about £10000 which is about 14-15000US$ so don't think just cos my prefered workstation CPU is currently AMD I can't spend the cash when it is needed.

M

one of the first UK T-Bird users....

 

[phsstpok]

With your budget I wouldn't bother with an overclocked Duron when you can buy a non-overclocked Athlon thunderbird for about the same money. (See below).

You could spend $150+ for an Asus A7V or an Abit KT7, veteran overclocking motherboard or even more for new and improved motherboards, $50 for a Duron 700 (and overclock it to 1000 Mhz, maybe), $30 for a good heatsink and fan. Total about $230. You could then tweak and fiddle and hope you get it right but you could also go a more conservative route. Buy a good quality non-overclocking motherboard for about $100, a 900 Mhz Athlon Thunderbird for $125, and the the same HSF. Total about $255. You would get about the same performance. If you want to be even more conservative, a retail version of 900 Mhz Thunderbird can be had for about $175 but it includes the heatsink and fan (not as good but good enough if not overclocked). In this case the total would be about $275 (and you get a 3 year warranty on the CPU).

If you want to spend more on more powerful CPU you will get more performance (more than you can get with a Duron).

Remember, if you can save money in this area you can spend more on things like a high quality monitor and a more powerful graphics card. You menitioned a quality graphics card, yourself, but you did not specify the usage. Assuming 3D gaming is the purpose then the best way to spend your money IS on these two items. You will get more gaming performance for your money if spent toward the graphics card than toward the CPU. You'd need a Geforce 2 Ultra if you want any hope of playing at 1600x1200 with good framerates. A 19" monitor would be a good way to enjoy that high-resolution. If 1280X1024 is good enough then you might not need anything more than a Geforce 2 GTS and a 17" monitor. Make sure the monitor you do buy meets YOUR needs.

Others have left recommendations on additional stuff so I won't duplicate that information. I just would like to say that the IBM 75GXP series of hard disks are great but if you choose one of these go with the retail version. IBM will not provide warranty service/replacement on OEM versions. Some other manufacturers will. I, personally, will not buy a hard drive without a warranty.

Update: Absolutely, buy the best quality memory! Crucial or Mushkin get great reviews. I use and like (and I didn't know about the other memory at the time) OCZ.SAFESHOPPERS.COM memory. It was cheap but it was guaranteed to run CAS2 at 133 Mhz and CAS3 at 150 Mhz so I gave it a try. It worked out great but this is only one person's opinion. <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by phsstpok on 01/19/01 03:12 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[slvr_phoenix]

I agree with a lot of people that if you can, wait.

New technology is coming out. That's assured.

If you can't wait, then I'd suggest trying to buy as cheap a system as possible and put the rest of the money away and then get a new system a year or more from now. That's what I did.

DDR SDRAM is good. It needs better support though. QDR SDRAM is coming. I can't wait to see a graphics card that uses it.

AMD is making a better chip.

So is Intel.

And if this system has to last for years, either way you'll want a chip that has SSE2 support if you can get it. Hopefully either AMD or Intel will have a future chip support it and be a good chip itself.

That's what I'm mostly waiting for is a good chip for today's software that also has SSE2 support. And for a video card with QDR SDRAM. And for a good solid motherboard and DDR SDRAM ... and USB2.

By the way, what advantage is there to a USB keyboard or mouse over a PS2 version?

- Sanity is purely based on point-of-view.

 

[Guest]

on the usb note
1 mabye because can unplug them without turning the computer off.
2 what is the data rate of ps/2 usb is 10mbs i believe and besides how fast can you type? if your keyboard needs that much bandwidth how many do you go through before lunch?

who is more foolish...
the fool, or the fool that takes his advice?

 

[Guest]

Check out my post called For All The People Still Afraid, in the Motherboard Chipset section. hope it helps. I way undershot your budget with an athlon 900

If you Overclock an Intel Processor fast enough, it will turn into an AMD. True Story.

 

[lakedude]

My $.02

$1800.00 (usd?) is a good sized budget and you should have no trouble getting a very nice system. I totally agree with ravenprime that you should dump some cash into a good monitor. Do not skimp where your eyes are concerned. My favorite monitors are regular crt monitors with flat screens (faces). Trinitrons are way better then regular monitors. Sony and Iiyama make the best but may be a bit high. KDS and some others make Trinitrons cheaper. I would rather have a 17” Trinitron flat face then a 19” cheapo. Check it out before you buy.

Your ears should not suffer either so get good speakers or save money and hook your puter to your stereo and have really good sound.

Now for the trouble spot: CPU and MOBO

For the best CPU to run today’s software at the lowest price go AMD. Personally I would not get a p3 unless it was for an upgrade. However p4’s are reasonably fast at today’s software and are likely the most future proof CPU available because it is newest and has SSE2. It totally hauls on SSE2 software. The p4 is not without problems however. You cannot build your own system for a reasonable price yet but you can buy a pre-built cheaper than you might think. In fact you could easily afford a system with a 19” trinitron and a p4 with a DVD and other nice stuff.

On MOBO ASUS rules! Intel makes a good MOBO but because Intel does not want you to OC, Intel MOBO do not allow you to.

Video is very important and you basically have 2 choices (3dfx is dead, sorry my first decent 3d card was a 3dfx but face it they are dead). ATI is best for multimedia like DVD and stuff. NVIDIA is the current champ of 3d modeling and games. As with CPU you need to decide which stuff is important to you.

I like optical mice, WD or IBM hd, DDR or RDRAM, and pioneer DVD.

The longer you wait the better/cheaper everybody’s stuff will get and no matter what you buy it will seem like junk in a couple years. If you make an informed choice based on your needs do not let anyone convince you that you are a fool for not buying what they would have. You are no more a fool for buying AMD or Intel, ATI or nVidia. You would not even be a fool if you prefer a large monitor over a smaller better one, it is your choice.

For price check: www."pricewatch, shopper, computershopper, ecost, onvia, buy, and dell(for p4 system)".com